With Nathaniel Hackett Off the Board, Who Will St. Louis Rams Hire as Offensive Coordinator?

Former Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett will not be joining the St. Louis Rams’ coaching staff. Hackett was the only known outside candidate remaining for the Rams’ vacant offensive coordinator position and had reportedly interviewed twice in recent weeks. Now, though, NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport is reporting that Hackett will accept the quarterbacks coach job with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

The 35-year-old Hackett had been the Bills’ offensive coordinator during 2013 and 2014 and was let go after head coach Doug Marrone exercised the opt out in his contract earlier this month. Marrone and Hackett, who coached together at Syracuse from 2010 to 2012 before moving together to Buffalo, will reunite in Jacksonville, as Marrone has been hired as the Jags’ assistant head coach and offensive line coach.

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Unless the Rams are able to find another interested candidate from the outside, which seems unlikely considering that they are so far into the process, it seems that either quarterbacks coach Frank Cignetti, Jr. or tight ends coach Rob Boras will ascend to the role of offensive coordinator in 2015. Of course, the Rams could also be innovative and divide the responsibilities into running game and passing game coordinator roles, as the Dallas Cowboys did in 2014 with Bill Callahan and Scott Linehan, which would lessen the pressure on the two coaches, neither of whom have ever held an coordinator role at the NFL level.

The 44-year-old Boras was UNLV’s offensive line coach and coordinator from 2001 to 2003, while the 49-year-old Cignetti has held college offensive coordinator positions at Indiana of Pennsylvania, Fresno State, North Carolina, California, Pittsburgh, and Rutgers for a total of 11 years divided up between 1997 and 2011. If they were to be given co-coordinator roles, it stands to reason that Boras would be the running game coordinator, while Cignetti would handle the passing game.

While a promotion from within would be good for continuity with the offensive schemes, it does create the problem of the Rams having to hire another position coach at a rather late stage in the yearly hiring process. While Boras could theoretically still coach the tight ends if he was given co-coordinator responsibilities, it would be risky for the Rams to leave Cignetti in a double role, particularly if he’s the sole coordinator. If Boras did end up giving up his tight end coaching role, the team could move assistant offensive line coach Andy Dickerson into the tight ends role and find a new coach to fill Dickerson’s role.

The Rams may draft a quarterback this offseason, and it would not be beneficial for whoever that quarterback ends up being if Cignetti is trying to divide his time between working with the QBs and handling his coordinator roles during practice. It’s important, however, that the team avoids just hiring whatever coach is available to fill Cignetti’s role.

It’s possible that wide receivers coach Ray Sherman could become the quarterbacks coach, as he filled that role with the Minnesota Vikings from 1995 to 1997, managing veteran Warren Moon and developing future Super Bowl winner Brad Johnson. If Sherman made that move, assistant receivers coach Kenan Smith could be promoted to fill his position.

Next: Potential Rams OC Candidate Rob Chudzinski Sticks with Colts

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